2016: Jeb Bush Takes Swipe at Ted Cruz

“He’s very articulate,” Bush said of Cruz in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody. “He’s deciding right now, I think, what path he wants to take. I’m for solutions. To me, being able to use your skills to solve problems should be the focus for everybody in elected office today because our systems are broken… To actually find creative solutions in a divided country to solve them is what we ought to be focused on.”

Bush’s suggestion is that Cruz is unlikely to compromise his principles, and that’s not entirely incorrect. Cruz has branded himself as a leader of the Tea Party and the conservative movement in the Senate, and he didn’t accomplish that by becoming “Democrat-lite.” Bush is sending a signal that, should he run for President in 2016, he intends to brand himself as someone willing to “reach across the aisle” and find common ground with Democrats. In this interview, he contrasted himself with Cruz, who is more likely to hold firm on conservative ideals, even if that means a “creative solution” isn’t always found.